Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will commission an independent inquiry into how hip replacements containing cobalt have affected the lives of patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is committed to ensuring that all medical devices on the United Kingdom’s market meet stringent safety and performance standards. It continuously monitors the safety of orthopaedic implants using data from adverse incident reports, national registries, and clinical input to identify emerging risks.
Currently, the MHRA has not identified a safety signal to suggest that cobalt chrome components used more broadly in hip replacements pose an increased or unacceptable risk to patients. Therefore, there are no plans to commission an independent inquiry into hip replacements containing cobalt chrome.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the 40 new hospitals confirmed by the then Prime Minister on 2 October 2020 have been completed and are operational.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The New Hospital Programme has opened six hospitals, listed as follows:
- the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, for the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust;
- the Royal Liverpool Hospital, for the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;
- stage 1 of the 3Ts Hospital, for the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust;
- the Northgate Hospital and Ferndene Hospital, specifically phase 1 and phase 2 of the Care Environment Development and Re-provision Programme, for the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust;
- the Dyson Cancer Centre, for the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust; and
- the Greater Manchester Major Trauma Centre, for the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.
Two more hospitals are due to open this financial year, listed as follows:
- the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, for Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust; and
- the National Rehabilitation Centre, for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children under the age of 11 are currently being provided with help with their mental health.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
At the end of February 2024, there were 222,448 people aged under 11 years old who had an open referral, of which: 93,385 have had at least one direct care contact, with a direct contact being defined as a contact recorded in the MHS201 Care Contact table of the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS); 90,942 have had at least one attended direct care contact, with an attended direct contact being defined as a contact recorded in the MHS201 Care Contact table of the MHSDS, where the person was either recorded as attending on time and being seen, or attending late but still being seen.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 31 January (HL1876), stating that “If a patient dies whilst on an elective waiting list, the corresponding patient pathway should be removed from the list and recorded appropriately”, how many corresponding patient pathways entries have been removed from the records after the death of a patient.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The data requested is recorded, however it is not reviewed routinely or centrally and is therefore subject to less validation than official statistics. Issues regarding the quality and completeness of this data mean it is not at an adequate level to inform a response.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how NHS England waiting lists for hospital appointments are adjusted to take account of people who have died while waiting for an appointment.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Cutting waiting lists is one of the Prime Minister’s top priorities, and we are committed to ensuring patients get the care they need when they need it.
Providers should ensure that all patient pathways recorded relate to patients still in need of care, as part of their routine management of waiting lists. If a patient dies whilst on an elective waiting list, the corresponding patient pathway should be removed from the list and recorded appropriately.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Department of Health and Social Care’s Annual report and accounts: 2020–2021, published on 31 January, which stated that “The Department estimates that there has been a loss in value of £8.7 billion of the £12.1 billion of PPE purchased in 2020–21”, whether they will now provide an update of the value of the PPE lost and its causes.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The most recent estimated value of impairments in personal protective equipment stock is £8.7 billion. We plan to publish an updated estimate in the Department’s 2021/22 Annual Report.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Government Counter-Fraud Function’s previous estimate that 57 per cent of COVID-19 expenditure was at ”a high or very high fraud risk”, what is their current estimate of the level of risk surrounding COVID-19 health expenditure.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We estimate that approximately 49% to 51% of COVID-19 health expenditure is at high or very high level of fraud risk.